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Since I'm butthurt and America should have NO defending. But it isn't the US doesn't have great healthcare. It's those without adequate insurance avoid some care they should be getting. Even some with insurance. I have my insurance from work. My employer pays 2/3 and I pay 1/3 out of my paycheck. I live in central PA all small cities. I have access to a very local hospital, a large Medici Center 15 miles away. Clinics nearby, other cities around have their hospitals, and another large Medical hospital 50 miles away.

My health is fine. I go for visits and pay a deductible. So far that is all I paid for each visit. Now if I needed a surgery? I would be liable for up to 20%. Doctors and nurses work in our Hospitals from all over the world. My Doctor is Indian. Here for a few decades.

My wife though is disabled. She gets totally free healthcare. A few Surgeries and regular visits to the 2 larger Medical Centers is totally paid for by the government. She gets the best as far as I am concerned. It is the fact ALL do not have it free is the issue and difference. NOT the quality of the care and updated hospitals. Even my local Hospital got a TOTAL make-over 5 years ago. With clinics in towns with no hospitals.

Forgive me if I defend the states. No derogatory comments need to be outside the circus of the political forums.

You can defend the States. But, it's also good to be critical of it, otherwise it'll remain very mediocre with so many things. It doesn't aspire itself anymore, to be good at anything, or to examine places where it could be improved upon.

Healthcare Stories:

Japan.

BIRTH STORIES:

Both of my foreign kids were born in Japan. For my son to be born in Japan, it costs me US$1,000 which included 5 days of meals/beds/everything for my wife and kid (both), plus the delivery as well. My daughter was just a little more, and a few days less in the hospital.

In short, if I were to have another kid, no matter where I lived in the world, I'd avoid the U.S. for that. I don't know the realities there, but I've heard absolutely nightmare stories from the uninsured in the u.s., and even from the insured, it sounds like they won't even let the mother stay the night, let alone 5.

FMRI SCAN:

Practically free. I can't remember the cost, but it was something like $US80. Whereas in the U.S., I think even with insurance, they would probably try to charge you a few thousand dollars.

I don't know...it's just one big huge scam story in the U.S., with just about everything from healthcare to credit cards to cellphone plans. I don't even want to think about it...not ragging on the U.S., as there are a lot of good things. But there is a lot that could be seriously fixed, or thought about, or worked on.

Is it really love, or is it because you're forced? I mean, if in the inner cities the safety is bad, the schools are poor, are you really in love with the suburban life or is it forced upon you?

It's a little complicated. In most major U.S. cities, there are parts of the inner cities where the safety is bad and schools are poor, and other parts that are very safe with good schools and even upscale. As you might expect, it is typically a lot more expensive to live in the safe and upscale parts of the inner cities. Pretty often, if you're not a multi-millionaire or earn a high salary, then the price tag will be out of reach.

Many of the suburbs of those same cities are typically more affordable, have good schools, safety, amenities and all that stuff. So, that is why so many families end up living in the suburbs. But that also means it is less walkable than the inner city, and you need to have a car to get everywhere. That's the tradeoff.

Both of my foreign kids were born in Japan. For my son to be born in Japan, it costs me US$1,000 which included 5 days of meals/beds/everything for my wife and kid (both), plus the delivery as well. My daughter was just a little more, and a few days less in the hospital.

In short, if I were to have another kid, no matter where I lived in the world, I'd avoid the U.S. for that. I don't know the realities there, but I've heard absolutely nightmare stories from the uninsured in the u.s., and even from the insured, it sounds like they won't even let the mother stay the night, let alone 5.

I have a cousin who gave birth to a child in Texas, she had insurance, and it still cost her thousands of dollars, and it would've been practically free here, so yeah that's not very nice.

BUT the bad stuff in Asia easily outweighs the good stuff so the situation is still terrible, at least it is here.

You can defend the States. But, it's also good to be critical of it, otherwise it'll remain very mediocre with so many things. It doesn't aspire itself anymore, to be good at anything, or to examine places where it could be improved upon.

Healthcare Stories:

Japan.

BIRTH STORIES:

Both of my foreign kids were born in Japan. For my son to be born in Japan, it costs me US$1,000 which included 5 days of meals/beds/everything for my wife and kid (both), plus the delivery as well. My daughter was just a little more, and a few days less in the hospital.

In short, if I were to have another kid, no matter where I lived in the world, I'd avoid the U.S. for that. I don't know the realities there, but I've heard absolutely nightmare stories from the uninsured in the u.s., and even from the insured, it sounds like they won't even let the mother stay the night, let alone 5.

FMRI SCAN:

Practically free. I can't remember the cost, but it was something like $US80. Whereas in the U.S., I think even with insurance, they would probably try to charge you a few thousand dollars.

I don't know...it's just one big huge scam story in the U.S., with just about everything from healthcare to credit cards to cellphone plans. I don't even want to think about it...not ragging on the U.S., as there are a lot of good things. But there is a lot that could be seriously fixed, or thought about, or worked on.

There are healthcare stories from every nation. You have stories from Canada of long waits for surgeries and people who died before they got treatment. So should I trash Canada's National Health care?

But if US did you or anther such wrong? It's not for you. I can accept that. But to dog any nation one left for whatever reason? Sometimes takes on anger and anti-bias in far more. Having the latest electronic devises? Is a nothing issue to me. Inability to afford something like healthcare? Surely can be. But again it went too far to say the US healthcare is less updated and its hospitals as if not fully with the latest equipment inferred? Went a bit far.

But I feel nothing I would say would change a opinion here. So I will just let the rest of you lessen the US in whatever degree you and others desire.

One thing I will say though? Is if the US did not help rebuild South Korea and especially Japan and then our factories move there that prospered their economy. Then with China? All our manufacturing that went there. The Brits with Hong Kong. Where would they be today? China especially. I have no doubt Japan would have rebuilt itself. The US also played a huge roll in rebuilding Europe, especially France and Great Britain and West Germany. After ww2.

Makes me wonder what the World's mentality would be if North America experienced a cataclysmic event? Besides say it was ALL your own fault and but some necessities? I'm not sure if large amounts of more in re-building? Would be as prevalent as the US did in the past?

Just a opinion and surely not meant to inflame anyone. Spare me as a boastful ugly American to say we did. I infer no better then the rest mentality. The past was surely another era too.

I love how people say healthcare is free or cheap in other countries. What that really means is that other people are picking up the tab for you via taxes. Is the US healthcare system messed up? Yes. Is healthcare really free anywhere in the world? No.

Try enroll your kids into any school in any of the 5 countries that scored the top score on math at the PISA survey and see how well it'd end, especially the high schools.

Quote:

But if US did you or anther such wrong? It's not for you. I can accept that. But to dog any nation one left for whatever reason? Sometimes takes on anger and anti-bias in far more. Having the latest electronic devises? Is a nothing issue to me. Inability to afford something like healthcare? Surely can be. But again it went too far to say the US healthcare is less updated and its hospitals as if not fully with the latest equipment inferred? Went a bit far.

It's pretty hilarious that you're having a breakdown like this when he wasn't even that critical.

There are healthcare stories from every nation. You have stories from Canada of long waits for surgeries and people who died before they got treatment. So should I trash Canada's National Health care?

But if US did you or anther such wrong? It's not for you. I can accept that. But to dog any nation one left for whatever reason? Sometimes takes on anger and anti-bias in far more. Having the latest electronic devises? Is a nothing issue to me. Inability to afford something like healthcare? Surely can be. But again it went too far to say the US healthcare is less updated and its hospitals as if not fully with the latest equipment inferred? Went a bit far.

But I feel nothing I would say would change a opinion here. So I will just let the rest of you lessen the US in whatever degree you and others desire.

One thing I will say though? Is if the US did not help rebuild South Korea and especially Japan and then our factories move there that prospered their economy. Then with China? All our manufacturing that went there. The Brits with Hong Kong. Where would they be today? China especially. I have no doubt Japan would have rebuilt itself. The US also played a huge roll in rebuilding Europe, especially France and Great Britain and West Germany. After ww2.

Makes me wonder what the World's mentality would be if North America experienced a cataclysmic event? Besides say it was ALL your own fault and but some necessities? I'm not sure if large amounts of more in re-building? Would be as prevalent as the US did in the past?

Just a opinion and surely not meant to inflame anyone. Spare me as a boastful ugly American to say we did. I infer no better then the rest mentality. The past was surely another era too.

Ah......I can't really respond to this...it just sounds like playground talk, of mixed facts, added words that were never said, etc.

Anyways, I like living in Asia. I don't really want to argue with you about why I like it. If you don't like me living in Asia, it's fine.

I live in Macau, and previous to Macau, I was living in Japan and South Korea.

I go back to the U.S. sometimes, but I'm ashamed to tell students of how poor the public transportation is - i.e. non-existent throughout most of the U.S., and most Americans are adamantly against it.

I also remember having tiny little cellphones with tons of features in SOuth Korea in the 1990s,and then going back to the U.S. in the 1990s and people were anti-cellphone at that time, or had a huge monster phone for 'roadside security' issues, or had super crazy cellphone plans that financially exploited the hell of people who did get cellphones back at that time. My plan was like $10 unlimited in Korea, and I went back to live in the U.S. for awhile in the 1990s and had some rip-off Sprint plan that tried to get $300 in a month because potential employers called me, when I was trying so hard to not use it at all, because I knew the u.s. system was so exploitative with things like that. But since it was relatively new in the U.S., they wanted to financially exploit the hell out of anyone who did get a cellphone.

I also remember back in the 1990s when throughout the world, the internet was exploding with internet cafes in every niche and cranny. South Korea already had broadband and was known as a gamer capital of the world, and you couldn't WALK for more than 10 minutes without seeing a half dozen internet cafes all within close proximity. Then I'd go back to the U.S., and people were trying some AOL dial-up or some other crazy thing.....then you'd try to find an internet cafe, and someone referred you to some major city with $5/hour, or sometimes even $5/5 minutes internet cafe with coffee or some crazy stuff. But you'd find only one in all of New York City, and it was at Times Square....and good luck to you, unless you knew the Korean neighborhood in New York City, and could read Korean signs, so you could find the $1/hour at ten times the speed.

Trains. Living in Japan/Korea, I could get on fast-speed trains....the fastest at the world at that time (although I think much of the world outside of the u.s. has built super fast trains as well). But you'd be on some train in Japan or Korea and see something that says 300kmh/hour..and you knew you'd get from A to B faster than some planes (granted the distances are shorter to cross Korea or Japan). But, meanwhile even in 2017, people in the U.S. think that a high-speed train between even NYC and DC is a strange futuristic thought.

Ahmm...too many things to mention. Japan builds buildings without noise...they can construct buildings that don't make noise. Fantastic if you live near that.

Just too many things....when I go back to the U.S., I just feel like people are arguing over stupid things all the time...i.e we can't afford trains....Japan cars are better because (I don't even know why).....

I don't know, I just feel like I'm going back 40 years in time, whenever I go back to the States. It also doesn't help that the U.S. has basically only built more of the obsolete shopping malls and suburban tract malls and housing....I go back to where I grew up, and that's the only new things that I see. Whereas when you live in Asia, you just always see entire cities and neighhorhoods change shapes on a regular basis....from great to really great. U.S. cities seems to go to somewhat acceptable to dilipitated or dangerous.

Anyways, my experiences....as an American who has lived in Japan, Korea, and Macau for over 20 years. I'm sure someone who has never left America will strongly argue against me though.

I've been to Japan multiple times. Other than shinkansen which is totally awesome and runs like a Swiss watch, it's hardly the candyland that you're make it out to be. It's a great country to visit if you're into history and art, but I'll be damned if I would change my lifestyle with somebody of comparable income in Japan. It would be misery.

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